Introduction
To understand the challenges for educational leadership in healthcare, it is reasonable to speak with those who have good experience in this field and make conclusions based on their responses. The interview with Dr. Laurie Swanger is an example of such a talk: she is the Faculty of Medical Sciences’ Dean and has more than ten years of experience in teaching and managing nurses. Her students love her for her high responsiveness and responsibility: each of them knows that they can ask her about everything connected with the studying process, and she will help them.
In the interview, Dr. Swanger was asked about her personal leadership style and qualities and how they help her to make the right decisions. She explains her style, why she uses it and not others, and how to maintain strong ethics in the studying and working environments. She argues that an ethical and comfortable environment is crucial in nurse education. It leads to the development of solid nursing ethics in students, which is essential to their future work. Dr. Swanger described those values more precisely, and based on them; one will be able to make conclusions about what educational leaders in the healthcare field need.
Interview
Q. Which leadership style do you prefer in your practice?
A. I prefer directive and transformational leadership styles while remembering that it is essential to maintain the stability of working and learning processes.
Q. What, based on your experience, is the core of leadership?
A. It is communication: I see that it is the most important element of leadership, and basically, all leadership process is built on communication.
Q. You talked about motivation: how exactly do you motivate your students and young nurses to complete their classwork and achieve better results in their work?
A. I think that a student should choose their specializations carefully. When they are excited about their study process, it is enough to create a comfortable environment for them and ensure that they can express themselves and find all necessary facilities for it.
Q. What do you think about the organizational culture and ethics: are they really important in leadership, or competence and authority are decisive?
A. I think that ethics is essential for healthcare: nurses should have strong communication ethics as they work with people. It can be developed only in ethical and safe
Q. It is often said that leadership is deeply interconnected with initiating and facilitating organizational changes. Would you agree with that, and to a which extend?
A. Transformative leadership is all about the changes; however, I prefer slow and substantial changes: for example, I think the study program should not be rewritten often. Instead, new methods and technologies should be implemented in existing courses.
Q. Thank you for the interview! One last question: what would you advise about the shared vision and its leadership role?
A. Its role is crucial: your team should know its goals, and no positive changes can be conducted without them. Thank you too, and have good luck!
Discussion
Dr. Swanger highlights several times that communication and clear vision are crucial elements of leadership style in medicine. Indeed, the quality of communication is directly connected with the effectiveness of the medical unit, and medical managers who are proficient in educational leadership are more effective at their positions (Choi et al., 2018). Qualified educational leadership is vital in medical academic institutions and clinics: She uses directive and transformational leadership styles in her work: there is evidence that the latter is the most beneficial in healthcare (Alloubani et al., 2019). This approach is connected with a quick adaptation of innovation (van Diggele et al., 2020). Thus, overall, Dr. Swanger uses all modern leadership approaches, proven by researchers, and her practice is based on ethical and trustful communication with students.
Maintaining strong ethics in the classroom and work environment is crucial for the healthcare field, as Dr. Swanger emphasizes in her answers. According to Bertrand and Rodela (2017), one of the main priorities in educational leaders’ preparation is ensuring equity and providing opportunities for students to engage in leadership practice. It would enable them to take the initiative and improve their skills while obtaining social capital, solving various problems, and taking responsibility. It is also essential to notify students about opportunities, such as career offers and scholarships, and ensure that all students have equal access to them (Pinder & Shabbits, 2018). In a classroom with a solid ethical basis, all students will be satisfied and have equal opportunities.
In addition, Dr. Swanger argues that ethics is one of the most crucial parts of leadership, especially in healthcare education. There is a concept of authentic leadership, which is close to the conception of Dr. Swanger: it is based on building positive and optimistic relationships with people while motivating them to work and achieve their goals (Alilyyani et al., 2018). The main task for such a leader is creating a positive working atmosphere where each student and worker will be emotionally satisfied. It correlates with Dr. Swanger’s argument that nurses should work in an ethical and safe environment, as they communicate with people and are responsible for their well-being. In that way, they should have good well-being to provide good care and medical support to patients. Another important concept is responsible leadership, which is actual for the education field in general (Connolly et al., 2017). However, according to Larsen et al. (2018), there is a lack of quality education for emergency nurses, who must make decisions in harsh situations where the patient’s life depends on them. Still, Dr. Swanger’s leadership is responsive, as she maintains contact with students and takes responsibility for what she teaches and directs them.
Conclusion
Dr. Swanger is quite conservative in her leadership position: for example, she argues that education programs should not be changed very often. Along with the transformational leadership style, she uses the directive one, which is aimed at direct communication with students and helping them achieve better results. Together with well-formed educational goals and strong classroom ethics, an effective studying environment is developed, where every student and nurse are constantly developing without experiencing negative emotions. To formulate and communicate those goals, the leader must have extensive knowledge about the subject (Mikkonen et al., 2018). In the case of Dr. Swanger, she has vast experience in successful medical practice and academic researches. According to Bolander Laksov & Tomson (2016), connected with a student-centered approach, such experience allows the leader to develop the educational communities. Thus, her leadership style is built on three main elements – communications, maintaining solid ethics, and formulating a clear vision, which is proven to be successful.
Based on the interview, one can see that healthcare education leadership requires good connections with students, as future nurses should develop good communication skills and strong work ethics. In addition, leaders should have extensive knowledge in their subject and medicine in general and formulate clear educational goals based on it. Nurses often work in harsh conditions, and they should be able to maintain a good emotional state to cope with all problems. Thus, the best nursing educational leader would be both the best friend and strict teacher, who will be able to listen to the needs of each student while maintaining strong classroom and work ethics and equal opportunities.
References
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